Wednesday, January 30, 2013

The second season of Game of
Thrones continues to be like the beginning of a chess game. Just as the
chess players make strategic moves to set up their attack on the king so is
each of the story lines continuing to build exposition for an upcoming clash of
events. Though this episode was a relatively docile story, what it lacked in
violence the episode recovered in nudity and sex. It seems like the director,
Alan Taylor, deliberately included nudity and pornographic scenes to hold the
audience’s attention through the huge amounts of exposition. This was perfectly
illustrated in the scene that took place in Lord Baelish’s brothel in which
Littlefinger deals with one of his prostitutes who will not stop mourning the
murder of the baby of one of his other prostitutes.Joffrey’s ordering of the death of all King
Robert’s bastards is mentioned several times throughout this episode, so this
is an unneeded reminder. The only other purpose this scene serves is to remind
the audience of Lord Baelish’s evil nature, which is superfluous for his treacherous
character has been solidified in the first season. The choice to include this
scene is just to increase the sensationalism of the episode by providing an
excuse to showcase more nudity and more sex.

Besides the nudity and sex, this episode did begin to lay the
groundwork for some interesting story developments. Tyrion, now acting as the
Hand of the King, shakes up King’s Landing. He will not fall victim to the same
fate as Eddard Stark and knows how to play the political game. Threatening
Varys, Tyrion warns him that he is not to be underestimated. Tyrion also
replaces the head of the city’s guard, Lord Janos Slynt, with his own man Bronn
since it was the head of this guard that slaughtered Eddard’s men in the Throne
Room. Tyrion, with the smarts and political savvy to play this deadly game will
really be able to shake up the power structure at King’s Landing. Also it is
refreshing to see someone with power in the castle who also has a moral
conscience. There is a heartening moment for the viewer where Tyrion remarks on
the cruelty of murdering babies in their mother’s arms illustrating that not
all Lannisters are pure evil.

This episode also marks the introduction of Theon as his own character
and not a supporting player to Rob. He returns home to Pyke for the first time
since being taken as a ward of Eddard Stark. Though, his homecoming is less
than ideal and it exposes Theon’s “daddy issues.” His father does not recognize
him as heir to Iron Islands and ridicules him for not being one with the sea.
Lord Greyjoy also mocks Theon’s relationship with Rob Stark and refuses to help
Rob in his war against the Lannisters. To make matters worse, Lord Greyjoy
recognizes Theron’s younger sister Yara as the heir to Pyke and the Iron
Islands. Though that would be bad in its own right, Theon has to handle his lost
inheritance while grappling with the fact that he fondled his sister on the way
up to the castle. Theon’s homecoming lays the groundwork for him trying to do
everything in his power to regain his father’s love and his inheritance of Pyke
and the Iron Islands.

This episode also follows Arya, Daenerys, Stannis, and Jon Snow;
however, very little happens to advance the plot in their stories. Arya does
share a heartwarming moment with Gendry, King Robert’s oldest bastard, where
she reveals her true identity. This seems to foreshadow an unconventional
partnership between these two characters. Daenerys features a setback when one
of her blood rider’s heads came back on a horse. Though it is obvious that
Daenerys as the mother of dragons will play a big part in the remainder of this
series, at this point of the episode her constant ranting about getting revenge
on all of those who hurt her and her people is becoming tiresome as she remains
helpless in the desert. Though Stannis’ story did not occupy a large amount of
time in this episode, he does succumb to the seduction of Melisandre (adding
yet another scene of nudity and sex). It will be intriguing to see if her
control over Stannis increases after their liaison.

Finally, the least eventful story of the episode seems like it might
lead to a hectic episode next week. Jon Snow’s story this episode remains stagnate
since The Night’s Watch is still camped out at Craster’s house with all of his
daughter wives. Though Sam wants to help one of the pregnant daughter wives
escape the captivity of her father husband, Jon wisely refuses to help for fear
of losing a hand as well as inability to care for her as they travel further
north past The Wall. However, Jon’s hero complex shines through when in the
middle of the night, he hears the sound of a baby and awakes to find Craster
carrying the child into the woods. Curious, Jon follows wondering where Craster
could be taking this baby. To his horror, Jon sees the baby abandoned and
carried off by a White Walker, the same type of undead creature that tried to
kill him and Lord Mormont last season. Just as he turns to head back to camp,
Craster clocks him over the head ending the episode. Though this episode
contained a lot of exposition, the season just started and is building towards
bigger events. And with the ending of an episode on the cliffhanger of Jon
being knocked out, next episode seems to bring the promise of more action.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

With
the much anticipated third season only two months away, it is time to rewatch
and review season two of Game of Thrones
in order to prepare for the third installment. Season two had a lot to live up
to. The first season of Game of Thrones
gave us an assortment of diverse characters, graphic battle scenes, political
intrigue and even romance. The most important and shocking development of
season one (especially for those who did not previously read the books) was the
execution of the main character, Lord Eddard Stark. His death shifted the
course of many characters and made certain that wars broke out between the
different families with everyone staking a claim to the Iron Throne. Season two
starts where season one ended with the main characters scattered all across the
lands uncertain of their futures. Rob Stark is leading an army to avenge his
father’s death and destroy the Lannisters. He has captured Jaime Lannister, the
Kingslayer, who is Lord Tywin Lannister’s oldest son and uncle to Joffrey Baratheon,
King of the Seven Kingdoms. Rob’s mother Catelyn Stark rides with him and
serves as his counsel. Bron Stark, Lord Eddard’s second eldest son and crippled
by the Kingslayer remains at Winterfell serving as lord while Rob battles in
war. Sansa Stark resides at King’s Landing with Cersei Lannister, Queen Regent,
who masquerades her as Joffrey’s betrothed while really holding Lord Eddard
Stark’s oldest daughter as ransom for Jaime’s safety. Arya Stark has escaped
King’s Landing disguised as a boy making
her way north with recruits for The Wall. Jon Snow, Lord Eddard’s Stark’s
bastard son and sworn brother of the Night’s Watch is about to embark with his
brothers in black on a journey north of The Wall to try and stop whatever evil
forces may be heading towards the Seven Kingdoms. Tyrion Lannister, Tywin’s dwarf
son rejoined his father on the battlefield only to be commanded to return to
King’s Landing and act as Hand of the King while Tywin continues his fight
against Rob Stark. Finally Daenerys Targaryen and her dragon eggs survived
being burned with her deceased husband on his funeral pyre. She now leads what
is left of her people and her newly hatched dragons through the desert looking
for a way to build an army and reclaim the Iron Throne.

The first episode of season two, “The North
Remembers” basically reacquaints the audience with the characters and their
storylines. From Rob being declared King of the North, to Stannis Baratheon in
Dragonstone declaring himself as the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms, to
Daenerys, even though stranded in the desert, claiming that she is the rightful
queen to sit upon the Iron Throne, the theme of this episode is described best
by Catelyn Stark when she tells her son Rob, “There’s a king in every corner
now.” This theme of everyone declaring themselves king or queen can even be
extended outside of the fictional world of the Seven Kingdoms and into the real
world set of Game of Thrones. The
death of Lord Eddard Stark, who was portrayed by Sean Bean, left an opening for
a new lead character. Bean, having come from the highly successful Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Rings, became of the star of the series. All of the other actors, though
they excel in their roles, were not as well-known at the start of the show. Now
that the series has critical acclaim and a large following, the actors now have
recognition and with Sean Bean’s character’s demise, there is an opening for a
new leading man or lady but who will ascend the ranks? One could think that
Peter Dinklage after receiving the Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy for his
performance as Tyrion Lannister would be the frontrunner to take Bean’s leading
role place. Though actors who portray other strong characters such as Daenerys
or Jon Snow could also lay claim to being the next big star of the show. Or
will this series morph this season into what it truly is: an ensemble drama
with brilliant actors of equal caliber shining through in their respective
roles with no one single star?

Finally, besides reuniting the viewer with the
characters they haven’t seen in many months and catching up with their
storylines as well as leaving them wondering who, if any, will take Sean Bean’s
place, this inaugural episode of the second season introduces the viewer to new
lands and new characters they can expect to meet during the remainder of the second
season. This starts in the opening credits, where a new land, Dragonstone, is
added to the other places on the map that the viewer got to know so well last
season. Also new characters such as Stannis Baratheon portrayed by Stephen
Dillane, his high priestess, Melisandre portrayed by Carice van Houten and his
second in command, Ser Davos Seaworth portrayed by Liam Cunningham are added to
the extensive cast. Though little is divulged in this episode about the
overarching storyline for these characters, one gets a sense that Melisandre is
a femme fatale trying to exert her influence on Stannis, a man of power.

This episode, though not as dramatic or action
packed as others during the show’s freshman year, was a good introduction back
into the world of Game of Thrones.
With so many characters and storylines, this episode was a refresher course
since the viewer was away from the show for so many months. With nine more
episodes left in the season, there is still plenty of time for action,
deception, and plot twists to emerge.